Hiring Guide

Tips for surviving the bidding war

The housing market has been moving at a record-breaking pace creating what is known as a seller's market in many areas. Great, but where does that leave the buyers? Well, it can leave them with limited choices in a market that is highly motivated, or, it can mean that more sellers want to capitalize on the market, offering up some excellent products that would otherwise not become available for sale.

With the laws of supply and demand, when the demand out weighs the supply, you can find rising prices and of course the dreaded multiple offer situation, AKA: bidding wars. Your real estate professional can help you with some tried and true tactics that can help you get your dream home.

As a home buyer you need to strengthen your negotiating position and submit the best offer that you can, taking into consideration every term and condition of the offer, not only price. The home seller may have many offers to choose from and will take the most attractive one. In order to make your offer as attractive as possible start by giving the seller exactly what they asked for in the way of closing date, deposit amount, what is included or excluded from the sale as much as possible. What may seem inconsequential to you may be paramount to the seller.

Getting pre-approved for your financing in advance of the offer date is what I would consider to be mandatory. Make sure you have met all of the conditions of the pre-approval like employment letters, check stubs, clearing credit card debt and find out how rigid the guidelines are. What I mean is, if your mortgage approval is $250,000, what do you need to do to go to $260,000? Is it possible? Are you confident enough to offer to buy a home without a finance condition? That is something you have to find out from your mortgage broker. By eliminating the need for the financing condition you present a stronger offer. The seller can feel confident that you are not going to back out the next day due to insufficient funding or buyer's remorse. When I represent the seller I advise them to put more weight on a firm offer with a healthy deposit than a conditional one, no matter what the price.